Preface - Electronic Poetry Center

From: Kevin Killian
Subject: A happy result of a long process
I know some of you are tired of the whole renga ordeal, but this is my take on
the subject.
I was asked to contribute to an anthology of "erotica" (ie porn) called "Switch
Hitters" (from Cleis Press) the premise being, everything else being equal, that
lesbians would write gay male erotica and gay men try our hands at lesbian
erotica. The editors encouraged me, saying that I, I Kevin Killian, had one
advantage –because I, unlike many of the other male contributors, have actually
seen a vagina.
Still I was stumped for a topic, no, what would Henry James call it, a donnee!
So when the renga began to appear, I found it! My story, "Renga," takes place
at a writers’ colony in Connecticut, the narrator is a New Formalist called Jane,
whose tired old poetry has begun to bore even herself, tho it has won many
prizes. A young girl comes to her bungalow every morning with her breakfastthis
girl, an aspiring, perky language writer, re-invigorates Jane physically and
changes her entire approach to poetics when the two collaborate on a renga
together. (And much else, since the editors demand 1 sex act on every two
pages.) All this on the sunny beaches of Long Island Sound and the exquisite,
semi-secluded grounds of the writers’ colony.
When I was casting about for a name for this vibrant character, the maid, I was
calling her "Karen"-don’t know why! But Dodie suggested, "Lee Ann"–don’t
know why! Anyhow the story was finished, accepted, look for it in February,
and thanks everybody for all your assistance and inspiration … you will all
recognize your individual lines of poetry for sure.
Okay-see you!